Before you start
- An Android TV, Google TV, Firestick or Android box
- Your IPTVNinja credentials
- Optionally TiViMate Premium, for recording, multi-view and multiple playlists
Nothing to sign in with yet? Ask for a 24-hour test line, or read what the plans cost first.
Doing it, one step at a time
Install it
The Play Store carries it for Android TV and Google TV. On a Firestick it has to be sideloaded through Downloader, and the Firestick page covers that from start to finish. No build exists for Apple, Samsung or LG hardware, so on those run IPTV Smarters rather than hunting for something that was never made.
Add a playlist
Launch it, select Add playlist, and then Xtream Codes login. Type in the server address along with your username and password, and press Next. No M3U link will be requested and none is required — if you find yourself searching for a playlist file, you have gone down the wrong branch of the menu.
Name it and let it load
Call the playlist something you would recognise later if a second one ever joined it, then leave the channels and guide to download. You will be asked which categories to bring in. That is adjustable afterwards from the settings, so there is nothing to agonise over: take everything now, see what you genuinely use, and prune it in a fortnight.
Configure the guide
Under Settings, then TV guide, set the refresh interval to every twelve hours. The guide source travels with the Xtream login, so unlike several other players there is no separate EPG URL to paste anywhere. If someone has sent you one, you are being helped with a different player's problem.
Build the layout you actually want
This is where TiViMate earns its reputation. Reorder channels, group your regulars, set the guide to open on your favourites, and decide whether the channel list appears over the video or beside it. Twenty minutes of this produces something better than most cable interfaces, and skipping it leaves you with a more complicated Smarters.
Set the buffer before you blame the stream
Under Settings, Playback, TiViMate lets you raise the buffer. On a connection that dips occasionally, a slightly larger buffer trades a second of delay at channel change for a considerably steadier picture, and on a busy evening that is a trade most people would take. It is the first thing to adjust when live sport stutters and everything else is fine.
Make an honest decision about Premium
The licence is purchased in TiViMate Companion, a separate application on a phone, rather than anywhere inside TiViMate on the television — which confounds practically everyone who tries. The price is around $9.99 annually or a single lifetime payment in the mid-thirties, and there is a week to try it. What it adds is recording, multi-view and support for more than one playlist. If none of those three appeals to you, the free version is perfectly good and you should keep the money.
Test the thing you are buying it for
Multi-view on a Saturday afternoon is the reason most people pay for Premium, so try exactly that during the seven-day trial rather than deciding on principle. Two matches running side by side either changes your weekend or it does not, and a week is long enough to find out at no cost.
When it does not work
The playlist could not be loaded
Confirm that the server address still has its port attached and that the subscription has not run out. After that, type the password in by hand rather than pasting it, since text copied out of a chat drags an invisible space along with it far more often than anyone would guess. Between them those two explain almost every appearance of this message.
The guide says no information
Go to Settings, then TV guide, then Update now, and restart the application afterwards. On a very long channel list a first load may also simply want more time than people are willing to give it. Where only certain channels come up blank, that is source data that does not exist rather than anything you have configured wrongly, and support can tell you which ones are affected.
Premium will not activate on the television
It is not bought there. Install TiViMate Companion on an Android phone, sign in with the same Google account, and purchase it from within that app. The licence then appears on the television automatically. This is the single most common confusion with TiViMate and it is entirely the developer's design, not anything to do with your subscription.
Channel numbers do not match what I expected
TiViMate numbers channels in the order it received them, which will not match a cable provider's numbering or another player's. You can renumber manually in the channel editor. It takes a while for a long list and is worth doing only for the thirty or so you actually use.
Other apps the same credentials open
IPTV Smarters Pro
IPTV Smarters Pro setup for Firestick, Android, Samsung, LG, Apple TV and desktop. Sign in with Xtream Codes, load the guide and fix the usual errors.
Smart IPTV (SIPTV)
Set up Smart IPTV on Samsung and LG televisions: find the MAC address, upload your M3U at siptv.app, activate after the trial. 25,000+ channels, no box.
Every guide
The full list of hardware and apps, on one page.
Try it on your TiViMate before you pay
A test line costs nothing and settles whether the channels you want are really there. Plans open at $15 a month for the same 25,000+ line-up.
What people ask about the TiViMate
What does Premium cost?
Roughly $9.99 for a year, or one payment of somewhere between $34 and $38 for a lifetime licence, varying by region. It is sold through the TiViMate Companion application on a phone and not on the television itself, and a seven-day trial comes with it, so whether recording and multi-view matter to you is a question you can answer before parting with anything.
Does it work with IPTVNinja?
It does, without anything special being required. Lines are issued as ordinary Xtream Codes logins, which is precisely the format TiViMate is built around, so the guide, the catch-up section and the on-demand catalogue all fill in of their own accord. Choose Add playlist, then Xtream Codes login, and there is nothing further to configure.
Is it worth it over the free player?
If you watch live sport on a television, yes, and the guide alone justifies it. If you mostly watch on-demand content, or on a phone, the advantage largely evaporates and Smarters will serve you as well for nothing. We have no stake in which you choose — TiViMate is not ours and we earn nothing from it.
Can I use it on two televisions?
The app yes, the Premium licence is tied to the Google account, so it follows you across devices signed in to that account. Your subscription is separate again and limits simultaneous streams. Three different limits from three different parties, which is confusing, and worth keeping straight before you buy anything.
Does the lifetime licence really last forever?
It is a one-off purchase from the developer with no renewal, and it has been honoured for years. It is still a promise from a small independent developer rather than a guarantee from a large company, which is the honest way to weigh roughly thirty-five dollars against ten a year. Neither payment goes to us.
Can I move my setup to a new device?
TiViMate can export its configuration from the settings and import it elsewhere, which saves rebuilding your groups and channel order by hand. Do the export before the old device goes anywhere. Premium follows your Google account separately, so signing in with the same account restores that half of it.